Macbeth

Rating:
Summary: Lay on, Macduff!
Review: While I was basically familiar with Shakespeare's Tragedy of Macbeth, I have only recently actually read the bard's brilliant play. The drama is quite dark and moody, but this atmosphere serves Shakespeare's purposes well. In Macbeth, we delve deeply into the heart of a true fiend, a man who would betray the king, who showers honors upon him, in a vainglorious snatch at power. Yet Macbeth is not 100% evil, nor is he a truly brave soul. He waxes and wanes over the execution of his nefarious plans, and he thereafter finds himself haunted by the blood on his own hands and by the ethereal spirits of the innocent men he has had murdered. On his own, Macbeth is much too cowardly to act so traitorously to his kind and his country. The source of true evil in these pages is the cold and calculating Lady Macbeth; it is she who plots the ultimate betrayal, forcefully pushes her husband to perform the dreadful acts, and cleans up after him when he loses his nerve. This extraordinary woman is the lynchpin of man's eternal fascination with this drama. I find her behavior a little hard to account for in the closing act, but she looms over every single male character we meet here, be he king, loyalist, nobleman, courtier, or soldier. Lady Macbeth is one of the most complicated, fascinating, unforgettable female characters in all of literature.

The plot does not seem to move along as well as Shakespeare's other most popular dramas, but I believe this is a result of the writer's intense focus on the human heart rather than the secondary activity that surrounds the related royal events. It is fascinating if sometimes rather disjointed reading. One problem I had with this play in particular was one of keeping up with each of the many characters that appear in the tale; the English of Shakespeare's time makes it difficult for me to form lasting impressions of the secondary characters, of whom there are many. Overall, though, Macbeth has just about everything a great drama needs: evil deeds, betrayal, murder, fighting, ghosts, omens, cowardice, heroism, love, and, as a delightful bonus, mysterious witches. Very many of Shakespeare's more famous quotes are also to be found in these pages, making it an important cultural resource for literary types. The play doesn't grab your attention and absorb you into its world the way Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet does, but this voyage deep into the heart of evil, jealousy, selfishness, and pride forces you to consider the state of your own deep-seated wishes and dreams, and for that reason there are as many interpretations of the essence of the tragedy as there are readers of this Shakespearean masterpiece. No man's fall can rival that of Macbeth's, and there is a great object lesson to be found in this drama. You cannot analyze Macbeth without analyzing yourself to some degree, and that goes a long way toward accounting for the Tragedy of Macbeth's literary importance and longevity.

Rating:
Summary: gripping, but not what I expected
Review: Yes, it's great - a big, bloody free-for-all replete with heroic speeches and stunning falls from grace; the kind of book that begs to be read aloud... but I'm left with a few disappointments.

First of all, why does Lady Macbeth get all the credit for being the evil, pushy madam behind her husband's misdeeds? He is himself consumed with ambition and bent on murder from the time he hears the witches' prophecy ... Lady M only plays a minor part in shoring up his determination when the knife briefly trembles in his hands. From then on, he's off and running with no need of encouragement.

Second of all, why is Macbeth remembered as a tormented man racked by guilt? Aside from brief mention (eg, the appearance of Banquo at the feast) I did not see much evidence of M's guilty conscience, as the body count skyrocketed and he continued to hack apart every man, woman, and child who stood between himself and the throne. Lady M, who ends up wandering the halls of her castle and muttering about the blood on her hands while her husband is still off fighting doggedly for his own survival, is much more the guilt-ridden of the two.

I have the sense that popular culture has distorted the original plot, as often happens. Not quite what I expected... but still terrific.

Rating:
Summary: Best for your class in reading Macbeth...
Review: The New Leadership Charter School read the Folger Shakespeare Library edition for its 2002 Shakespeare Festival. The entire school saw the play performed at Shakespeare & Co in Lenox, MA.

Several other books were helpful in preparing the teachers and students for discussing Macbeth: (1) The Cambridge School Shakespeare edition, which has many wonderful suggestions for class activities (but which is more expensive than the Folger edition); (2) Peggy O'Brien, Shakespeare Set Free, which has a great section on teaching Macbeth; (3) LitPlans on CD, which has a number of pencil-and-paper activities about Macbeth; (4) Greenhaven Press's Readings on Macbeth, which has 16 interpretive chapters on Macbeth, all of which teachers and upper level high school students will find useful; (5) Two books of college-level lectures on Shakespeare, with chapters on Macbeth (A.C. Bradley and Harold C. Goddard); and (6) Nick Aitchison's history of midaeval Scotland, Macbeth: Man and Myth.

Amazon has all of this stuff, and I found them all very useful.

The one interpretive book that I did not find useful was Susanne Wofford's Shakespeare's Late Tragedies.

Rating:
Summary: The master
Review: It's been said that Freud said he learned everything he knew from Shakespeare. There is no one who writes of human nature, from the inside out, as Shakespeare did. I've read Macbeth before and will read it again ... and will always thrill at the 3 witches. What a beginning! But it's the portrayal of Lady Macbeth that has stuck with me from high school days when I first read it. It's as effective at curtailing certain reprehensible female behavior as is "Fatal Attraction." My high school English teacher told me to read the great works of literature every 5 years because they'll be different each time. I do, and they are. If I could write like Shakespeare, I'd describe how beautiful and powerful his language is. This action-packed drama is one of the works of Shakespeare that particularly appeals to men.

Rating:
Summary: A great and compelling story!
Review: I liked this play by Shakespeare! There was lots of battle in it and a good plot and nice evil characters that make it suspenseful.... ... I loved it! I read it in one day and that's how much of a page turner I found it to be.

Rating:
Summary: The tragedy of messing with prophecy in "Macbeth"
Review: William Shakespeare's tragedy "Macbeth" was performed at the Globe Theater in 1605-06. The "Scottish" play was a calculated to be pleasing to James I, who took the throne of England after the death of Elizabeth Tudor in 1603. It was not simply that the play was set in the homeland of the Stuarts, but also that when Banquo's royal descendants are envisioned the last of them is the new King. (Note: Shakespeare does a similar sort of tribute to Queen Elizabeth when in the final act of "Henry VIII" the the Archbishop prophesizes great things for the infant Elizabeth. However, not only is there doubt that Shakespeare was the sole author of that particular history, it was not produced until 1612-13, ten years after Elizabeth's death.)

The play chronicles Macbeth's seizing the Scottish throne and his subsequent downfall, both aspects the result of blind ambition. However, one of the interesting aspects of "Macbeth" for me has always been its take on prophecy, which is decidedly different from the classical tradition. In the Greek myths there is no escaping your fate; in fact, one of the points of the story of Oedipus as told by Sophocles is that trying to resist your fate only makes things worse (the original prophecy was that Oedipus would slay his father; it was only after Jocasta sought to have her son killed to save her husband that the prophecy given Oedipus was that he would slay his father and marry his mother). In the Norse tradition prophecy is simply fate and manhood demands you simply resign yourself to what must happen.

But in "Macbeth" there is a different notion of prophecy that is compatible with what is found in the Bible: specifically, the idea that human beings simply cannot understand God's predictions. This is the case both with those who failed to understand the prophecies that foretold the birth of the Christ but also the book of Revelations, where the fate of the world is detailed in complex and essentially uncomprehensible symbolism. When Macbeth is presented with the first set of prophecies by the three witches, he is understandably dubious: he will become thane of Cawdor and then King, while Banquo will beget kings. However, when the first prophecy comes true, Macbeth begins to believe that the rest of the prophecy may come true. His fatal error, at least in the Greek tradition, is that he does not allow fate to bring him the crown, he takes active steps by slaying King Duncan. He compounds this error by projecting his ambitions onto Banquo; although Macbeth has Banquo killed, his son escapes to keep the prophecy intact.

Now the witches's prophecies are deceptively clear: no man born of woman may harm him and he is secure until trees start walking. Macbeth, who now believes in the inevitability of prophecy, fails to understand the fatal concept of loopholes. Thus, the nature of prophecy becomes an integral part of the play's dynamic.

Final Note: Billy Morrissette's recent film "Scotland, PA," a sort of "white trash" version of the play set in 1975 (with Christopher Walken as Lt. Ernie MacDuff, a vegetarian detective investigating the death of Donald Duncan) might bring the attention of new readers to the play, which has always had the virtue of being the shortest of Shakespeare's dramas.

Rating:
Summary: Shakespeares Depressive Play
Review: I think we all who've read this book can agree Shakespeare was depressed while writing macbeth. Full of murder, duplicity, betrayal, insanity, Shakespeare covers it all in a disturbingly good look at a consience full of guilt betrays the two plotters.

To Sum it all up:

Long complicated story, but Macbeth is forced by his wife, Lady Macbeth to kill his king, Duncan, so he will be king. She believes this will be true because of a prophecy that Macbeth would be Thane of Cawdor, then King. Macbeth, lo and behold is made Thane of Cawdor. After he kills the king, he blames it on Duncans sons, malcom and Donaldsbane. Sohortly after, macbeth is made kig and hires these murderers to kill his best friend Banquo and his son Flayonce, because according to the witches, Banquo will have a long line a kings. So they kill banquo, but Flayonce gets away. Macbeth, meanwhile, sees Banquos ghost at his party and goes insane.

Macduff goes to get Malcolm to come back to be king and Malcolm says:
a.) I need sex
b.) I need Moolah
c.) I'm an all around bad person

But he's testing Macduff to see if Macduff trust him.

Macbeth, meanwhile, has heard from the witches he can be killed of no man born of a women and his house will not fall until the forest marches against it. He then sends for Macduffs family to be killed. They are all killed (Lady Macduff, Macduff Jr., the otherkids and servants).

Lady macbeth sees the blood on her hands and kills herself. Her consience finally caught up with her.

Macduff and Malcolm disquise themselves and their army as trees and start walking towards Macbeths house so it looks like *GASP* the forest is marching against his house. But Macbeth knows he's immortal, so he kills lots o' people, and then sees Macduff. he's very arrogant, but Macduff says:

"I was born from my mothers womb, untimely ripped." Translation: He was born of a C Section.

So Macduff kills Macbeth and Malcolm is made king

Now, if you are even mildly interested in this play based on my *COUGH* Weak *COUGH* description, you should buy it. It's not Shakespeares greatest tragedy, that title belongs to Romeo and Juliet, nor is it his best play, thats probably Hamlet, but to me it is, and I loved this play. Go buy it. You won't regret it

Rating:
Summary: The greatest horror story of all time.
Review: I realized that this play is a horror story just recently. It has witches, ghost, creepy castle, brooding atmosphere, and plenty of blood. What seperates it from most horror stories (aside from the fact it was written by Shakespeare) is the true horror is not from the ghosts or witches but the evil that is in man's soul. This makes it scarrier and more truthful than most horror stories.

Rating:
Summary: Shakespeare at his best
Review: I've read several of Shakespeare's plays now, and I can honestly say that this is one of my favorites. Its a really enjoyable, dark, bloody, play. Shakespeare combines many elements in this play: the supernatural, corruption, political ambition, and revenge. Themes that we can still relate to today. Although the language is often difficult in MacBeth, don't let that discourage you. Keep trying! Read a page twice if you need to, but read it. If you give it an honest chance, you wont be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Macbeth: Stupidity and Fall of a Hero
Review: Power corrupts. Macbeth is a tragedy that portrays the role of morals and values and the quest for power of a valiant solider. The play begins with Macbeth as a noble warrior who, by the end of the play, through paranoia and a hunger for power, turns into a bloodthirsty murderer.
Shakespeare shows some of his finest qualities of writing in the tragedy of Macbeth. The language does pose a problem, but as the play progresses the style of writing becomes less challenging. Many of the characters die before ever developing, yet Shakespeare includes an abundance of characters, sometimes making it difficult to keep track of all of them. Shakespeare once again incorporates a supernatural element into his play, characterized by the three witches adding suspense to the story.
I would recommend Macbeth to any reader who is willing to take on the challenge of Shakespearean language and style.